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: Joint Incorporation Project. Project Process Report Client/ HMRC, Companies House, Businesslink.gov.uk From/ thinkpublic Strictly for internal use
Contents: Formation Agents:
Co- Design:
International Examples:
What we did? Bullish Statements Co- Design
International analysis/ Performance Indicators International Best Practice New Zealand, Australia, Singapore Analysis
Journey Mapping: About Journey Mapping What we wanted to find out? Examples
Insights Summary of insights Systems Mapping Critical Success Factors Inspiration Cooking Shows Burrito Shops Growing Plants Friends and Family Packing Briefcase Pure Digital Technologies/ FLIP First Direct Amazon Apple
Internal Values Exercise Identifying Brand Strategy tool Brand Strategy/ Values
Ideas Generation Ideas generation Ideal Journey/ Blueprint
Project Outcomes Web page Ideas Service Blueprints Data Schema Benefits
Formation Agents: To better understand how many of people currently incorporate, we visited a popular formation agent web sites to compare how they presented the process with Companies House. The Formations Company web site is clear and drives visitors towards registering. By offering three tiers of support they aim to up sell additional services to the visitor. The information is broken down into clear sections, making the process clear and easy to understand. This clarity supports the visitor to feel they can complete incorporation themselves.
What We Can Learn From Formation Agents: 1. Process - Clear steps to incorporation - Communicates speed - The steps are displayed visually so the visitor can see where they are in the process. 2. Language
- Clear - Well communicated - Conversational
3. Information
- Sections are linked to personal circumstances. - Immediate feedback and explanation if something is wrong.
4. Accounts
- Visitors have their own accounts where all their information is stored. - Keeps information clearly filed and maps it against where they are in the process.
International Examples.
thinkpublic did extensive research into international best practice in incorporation. We profiled three leading examples, and compared them to the current British system. We then created a set of key points and themes that were important when thinking of reforming the system. Learning from overseas best practice is vital in order to allow the British system to overtake other nations in ease of company incorporation. The research and analysis is summarised over the following pages.
International Analysis
Nations Profiled: Business Incorporation
thinkpublic conducted research into international examples of best practice relating to setting up businesses and the process of incorporation. We analysed the process data as well as the usability and tone of the tools being used.
Rankings based on 4 indicators Rankings are based on 4 indicators;
Time
Cost
Procedures
Paid in Min Capital
Singapore
Australia
Ranked: 4th Number of Procedures: 3 Time in Days: 3
Ranked: 3rd Number of Procedures: 2 Time in Days: 2
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Ranked: 1st Number of Procedures: 1 Time in Days: 1
Ranked: 16th Number of Procedures: 1 Time in Days: 1
International Best Practice Summary: Analysis of the incorporation data based on the indictors highlighted by the world bank shows the UK is not as efficient as its competitors, with a considerably larger number of procedures, and therefore taking a longer time to process.
Singapore
16
United Kingdom
6
Number of Procedures
% of Cost Per Capita
4
0.6
0.4
0.2
NZ
UK
4
2
AUS
SING
NZ
UK
SING
Time 16
0.8 Number of Days to Incorporate
Cost % of Cost Per Capita
Australia
8
Paid in Minimum Capital
Paid in Min Capital
3
0.8
AUS
Procedures
New Zealand
Procedures
Cost
Time
1
0.6
0.4
0.2
AUS
NZ
UK
SING
12
8
4
AUS
NZ
UK
SING
1. New Zealand Professional and Emotional We analysed the services in more detail in terms of the usability and tone of the services being provided.
< In New Zealand additional services are offered to make the customer experience better. The site publishes relevant changes in legislation, and offers visitors the ability to file their tax return online.
Service Usability: Online: • Simple clean menu and very easy to navigate • All located at business.gov.nz • Clearly indicates steps and place in journey • Incorporation focused into stages are shown as starting, growing and exciting the business • Excellent transparency and feedback tools to feedback on the process, and to see what happens next. • Service also provides additional business tools such as help writing a business plan, cash flow forecasting, etc. • Online Business training (not specific) Offline: • Business information and drop in centres available, as well as workshops. Negatives: • No Direct access to registration forms
< My unfinished business shows visitors the tasks they have completed, as well as those they still need to complete in order to incorporate their company. It allows customers to drop in and out of the incorporation process and clearly indicates where they are in that process.
< The language used on the site is straightforward and understandable. The way the information is delivered is also impressive with video media being used for explanations and tutorials and they publish new announcements using social media.
2. Australia
3. Singapore
Efficiency and Privacy
“Iron hand in Velvet Glove”
The Australian system is focused heavily on the efficiency to businesses as well as privacy.
Singapore’s system is very user focused and offers a wide range of services tailored to the customer’s needs.
Key Points:
Analysis of international Best practice: Key success factors are; 1. Online Having the incorporation process online is a defining factor in the ease of incorporation.
• Online one stop shop (linked to Australian Tax system for semi Joint incorporation).
There is, however, a tone of hard regulation, with penalties and prosecution highlighted throughout the site.
• 8 Page application
Key Points:
• Multi Channel support offered through a 1800 support line
• Information is tailored/ filtered specific to customer
Although multiple channels may be available to the customer, it is important that the process of incorporation can be completed in one space without having to channel hop.
• There is a strong emphasis on privacy and how the company is listed, in relation to public and non-public access to company information
• One stop online registration platform
3. No Court Involvement Not having to go through court system as is the case in some states.
• Social Media for small businesses
• Comprehensive and understandable information regarding market statistics, funding options, Government assistance, licenses and permits.
• Information is filtered well depending on the visitors situation, whether they are thinking, starting or growing a business.
• Great service provision by using mobile technologies, uploaded powerpoints, uploaded video content tutorials.
Standardising and even customising incorporation documents not only saves the customer time, but also simplifies and unclutters the process.
• Standard business reporting, meaning information required by ASIC is collected automatically. The benefits of this in terms of efficiency are well highlighted.
• Good service in keeping people up to date using alerts, RSS feeds etc.
• ABN vs ACN is slightly confusing for people
• Can purchase add-ons such as financial software and these generate revenue.
2. One stop
4. Standardised Incorporation Documents
Journey Mapping.
Journey Mapping is a method that visualises a customer’s experience and is a great way of delving deeper into a problem. It allows you to understand your customer and ensures you are focused on asking the right questions. It is extremely important in the development of services that the customer is placed at the centre of the process. Looking at a service through the eyes of the people who use it is a way to understand what is important. Understanding these people and what they need and want from a particular service means you can deliver solutions that address those needs and wants. Understanding the complete experience is also important. If the point of failure within your service proposition occurs before the service is even used then the processes you are redesigning are wrong, you risk tackling the problem incorrectly or asking the wrong questions. Taking a holistic view of the service experience, you are able to understand the complete process a consumer goes through.
Contents • What is Journey Mapping? • What did we want to understand? • Customer Journey’s and Insights
Understanding the journey and visualising it is a powerful method of gaining insight on an opportunity as you can begin to see points at which you are able to add value and points of service failure.
Journey Mapping What is Journey Mapping? Journey mapping is a design process that describes the experiences a customer has as they pass through a service. It records the steps they pass through and their emotional response along their journey. It can be an effective way to highlight opportunities for service improvement and to ensure that every interaction with the customer is positive.
What we did We carried out one-on-one interviews with individuals that had recently registered a company: - Keith who owns a mechanical repairs shop - Edward who owns a number of social enterprises - Roger who owns a business consultancy - John who owns a painting and decorating business - James who owns a cafe / bar - Craig, a fashion designer and company owner
With each we explored the three stages (pre, incorporation and post). From these interviews we produced journey maps that illustrate the actions each person took, their thoughts and emotions along the journey, people that helped them at various stages and points of failure.
Pre
Research they did. How they decided, why?
The method of process, Incorporation why they chose it and how it went? Post
What else did they have to do? How they manage their business?
Journey Mapping: What did we wanted to understand? Looked into how each step effected the actions in the following phase.
Motivations
Pre Pre-incorporation What did the customer research? What motivated them to incorporate a company? What influenced their decision to incorporation and why?
Incorp Incorporation How did they incorporate and why? What was their experience? Did they receive external support? Did they register for VAT and PAYE at the same time?
Post Post-incorporation What else did they have to do afterwards? How did they manage their company going forward?
Ambitions
Name: Keith Age: 47 Location: Lacock, Chippenham Business: Mechanical repairs shop Background:
Keith started working when he was 15 in the agriculture industry. He worked in various roles but his main focus was on machinery and mechanical repairs. Keith had a huge amount of experience and understanding of the industry so just wanted to get on with things himself. He set up his own business as he was becoming frustrated working for other people, and felt he could operate a better service by working on his own.
Why I started my business? “I was tired of working for other people who didn’t have a clue. I knew I could do a better job I was working for them but they controlled me 24 hours a day.”
PRE Worked in agriculture industry whole life and had a wealth or experience in different roles.
incorporation
COST EFFECTIVENESS
FRUSTRATED WORKING FOR OTHERS SAW AN OPPORTUNITY
£ Took on a book keeper to manage these duties for him
Set up as a sole trader and began trading on his own.
Period of building up the business Spent time with others who had set up limited companies.
Using peer network of other businesses to understand what they did and drawing on their experiences.
Needed to set up PAYE and Payroll
Employed extra staff.
‘ I had a book keeper and one of the last things he did before he left was install Moneysoft (Software). It was to make his life easier, but it was so easy to use that I sacked him and did it myself.”
Bookkeeper bought a system called Moneysoft to manage the payroll.
post
realised the simplicity of the system and saw could do it himself.
INSECUR UNCOMFORTA REGARDIN OF ASS
Sacked the bookkeeper and manages the Moneysoft account himself.
Using peer netw other busine to understand they did and dr on their experie
EMPOWERED
Summary: Confusing terminology and conflicting information on web.
Looked up and did research through Companies House and HMRC.
CURE AND UNCOMFORTABLE ARDING SECURITY ASSETS.
Decided should go Limited
Approached a Chartered Accountant.
Running business day to day.
Spent time with others who had set up limited companies.
£
BALANCING TIME AND COST
CONTROL Running business day to day since then trying to grow.
PEACE OF MIND PROTECTION
FOOT IN THE DOOR
Accountant took care of everything and then sent him through the paperwork. UNCERTAINTY OVER COMPLIANCE
Signed and sent back.
work of esses d what rawing ences.
Registration time: 1 Week Cost: £400 Method: Chartered Accountant Keith often used a network of peers who had varying sized businesses to inform his decision making process. He chose to go through an accountant as he was unsure of the process and using an accountant offered him more control. It was also more cost effective to pay someone to register for him, as he could earn more money than it would cost in the time it would take him to register. Keith also mentioned that he saw using someone with a degree of pedigree such as an accountant gave him ‘a foot in the door’. There was still an officialdom in his eyes to these organisations. He had sought additional help after registration for the financial maintenance of the business by hiring a book keeper. Once the book keeper bought software to make it easier, Keith let him go. The software was easy and he felt empowered enough to no longer need the additional help.
Insights: Did some research online and through network around Value Added Tax as was concerned getting close to threshold. Wanted to be sure.
Just used the information he thought was important for him.
Registered for VAT
Fairly straight forward had some good advice from others, the accountant also helped.
The right digital tools can empower people to perform processes themselves. How can we use the people going through business registration to support each other?
Name: Leanne Age: 25 Location: Manchester
PRE
Set up web site and contacted potential clients about his company.
Business: A number of social enterprises
Approached Companies House web page to research process.
Was his first business so was cautious about compliance and was worried about doing something wrong.
Sector: Online service provider, and social
enterprise
Background: Edward has a background in finance and had previously worked at Goldman Sachs in various trading roles and is currently studying for a PHD in Mathematics.
LOOKING FOR BUSINESS ADVICE AND MENTORING.
He has a number of personal business ventures in the past in various fields. He is entrepreneurial.
Went to Enfield Local Authority to seek advice.
HAD CONFIDENCE IN THE PROCESS FROM HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE.
Why I started my business? “I saw an opportunity, and when I do I generally follow up on it.”
post
He was working full time during the days at this stage. The Local Authority recommended he spoke to a Formation Agent.
Explained situation and what was important to him.. Wanted process to be quick and cheap
Personally looked into doing it himself through Companies House.
£ Formation agent WAS MORE COST EFFECTIVE . QUICKER DUE TO SIMPLE FORMS
Saw an busines to set
Summary:
safety Started to search for a lawyer.
Thorough Security
First Company: Registration time: 1-1.5 Weeks Cost: £400 Method: Lawyer
Sought advice from various lawyers in a series of free meetings.
Second Company: Registration time: 2-3 Days Cost: £40 Method: Formation Agent Edward’s first experience of registering a company directly effected the way he went about registering his second. The first time he wasn’t confident in the process and didn’t understand exactly what he had to do, therefore he chose to employ a lawyer.
£
nother opportunity for a ss venture and decided up another company.
Lawyer drew up documents and got him to sign them.
Informed a lawyer to proceed with the registration.
Using peer network of other businesses to understand what they did and drawing on their experiences.
incorporation
Discussing options and ideas through business platforms and business networking sites.
Used network of peers for other guidance e.g: friends who were accountants.
Went with a Formation Agent and filled out the registration forms online.
HARD WORK STARTS. After a few days the company was set up and this was confirmed by email.
Physical Documents were received a week later through the post.
NO SPARE TIME 7 DAYS A WEEK WORKING
Approached for advice on setting up a business and recommended the person go through a Formation Agent.
The second time he had a understanding of the process and therefore was more confident. In this instance his priorities were more around saving time and money, as both are commodities he wanted to pump into his company rather than its formation.
Insights: How can we shift the perception of the process and build confidence in the system for first-time registration? How can we make the process time and cost effective for people running companies?
Name: Roger Age: 36 Location: London Sector: Consultancy Background: Roger cofounded an innovation business consultancy spun out of NESTA where he was Director of Open Innovation. Having graduated with a PhD in Physics from Edinburgh University, he has held senior innovation roles in the Utilities and Media industries and in addition has worked with hundreds of startups to raise venture capital and commercialise technology. In addition he has worked as a TV and film music producer for SonyBMG.
PRE
Roger and his business p spent a long time thin about how it would wor who would own the com
REPUTATION IN PLACE Had a lot of experience in areas of business such as venture capital, innovation and management.
Has not had confidence in the past to move into something on own.
OPPORTUNITY AROSE
The company was being to be spun out of NESTA Complications around m and legal issues.
Unique set of circumstances arose that prompted Roger to think about doing something on his own.
incorporation “dead simple’ Good experience, worked fine
Took an afternoon and it was done.
Registered as a limited company.
Why I started my business? “It was a unique situation really, all different factors came together at the same time... The reason we registered the company was more of a gesture of good will as we were having a board meeting and we wanted to show we were serious.”
CRUNCH.COM Half the price of an accountant and the same amount of service.
post Registered for VAT and Corporation Tax. Began period of incubation in NESTA.
Officially started trading. Set up with an accounting service online.
Tried to Businesslink needed advic insur
Summary:
partner nking rk and mpany. The day before the meeting he and his business partner were thinking about how to show they were serious.
Had a board meeting to discuss how the business would move forward and be funded.
g set up STA. moral
Thought that registering the company as limited was a good way to illustrate their commitment.
o access k.gov.uk, as he ce on employee rance.
Went online and googled “registering a company”.
“I needed some quick advice on the difference between employee/ employer insurance ... I tried to access businesslink as I had nowhere else to go.”
Wanted immediacy Web page was his last resort
Roger’s experience was relatively straight forward. His experience and understanding meant that he was confident to take control over this process himself.
Using peer network of other businesses to understand what they did and drawing on their experiences.
Found an agent who could do it for £60
Registration time: 1/2 Day Cost: £60 Method: Formation Agent
His priorities were going through the process quickly, and making sure it was reasonably priced. He now takes control over some of the accountancy work using an online platform called Crunch. It is simple to use and is a cost effective task due to the money he saves on accounting fees. He also took control of the VAT and Corporation tax registration. They do however use financial advisors for more complex procedures such as insurance.
As a gesture/ symbol to show serious about moving forward.
£ Has hired a financial advisor to advise on insurances, etc.
Employee Insurance pages were down on the BusinessLink web site. PAYE is due to be set up in September 2010.
Insights: How can we create value in using Companies House for the registration process? How can we make the process of incorporation, registering VAT, and Corporation tax simple, smooth, making it easy to understand to everyone and reassure customers that these are tasks that can be done themselves?
Name: John Age: 43 Business: Painting and Decorating Sector:
PRE Worked for a decorating company since he left school.
Owner needed to retire so John took over the contracts and business as a sole trader.
Worked as a sole trader employing others on contracted work in the same way as a freelancer.
Had a large contracts and s about exp
Construction/ Property
Background: “He just got us all the forms to sign, and told us how to go about it, and that was it, bang. Done and dusted.”
John worked for the company since leaving school at 15. The owner wanted to retire and offered John the opportunity to purchase the business and its contracts.
Accountant organised all the forms for them to sign.
John did this and ran the business for eight years. After this time he went into partnership with his brother Paul. They worked together for a few months and then registered as a limited company due to rapid growth and also to give them some additional credibility.
Easy and Quick process.
Inheritance f son
At the time also became registered for VAT, as they were earning over the threshold.
“Really the accountant is running the business, and I’m just taking care of the day to day. The books are the business really.”
Why I started my business? “ The reason we registered was because we were advised to by our accountant. We were earning too much money and had all the houses. It was just to protect the houses.”
Protection of assets.
The partners agreed to form as limited and instructed the accountant to do so.
post Was still running business day to day, going to work, and seeking out new work.
Accountant handles all the finances and paperwork and comes into their office once a month to do the book keeping.
Hasn’t changed how the business operates from their perspective, as all financial side is taken care of by accountant.
feels better that assets are more secure and have some protection.
number of started to think pansion.
n .
for
Summary: 8 Years ago John changed and went into partnership with his brother.
Employed an accountant to do his book keeping and take care of paperwork.
Accountant is paid £300 a month and takes care of all the paperwork and financial aspects of the business.
Registration time: 1 Week Cost: £300 (monthly fee for all accountancy) Method: Accountant The process of registration for John was simple. He already had financial business support in place as he had been trading before registration. His accountant dealt with the process as part of the service that John pays for on a monthly basis. This was also true of registering for VAT.
Accountant recommended that they went limited in order to protect their own investments in property and also because of the size of the company and amount of money they were making.
Had five properties, as well as own house and quite a sizeable business.
Began to invest some of his earnings into properties.
Insights: • In this instance the accountant becomes the “customer”.
incorporation
• How can we make it convenient and beneficial for accountants to use Companies House as their method of incorporation, and setting up VAT?
Name: Craig Age: 30 Business: Fashion Designer, Brand Owner Sector: Creative
PRE Graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and began to freelance under their own name.
Used his spare time to research and think about setting up on his own. Searching for avenues of mentoring support and advice. Becomes a member of East London Small Business Centre.
Joined a Government backed programme called The Centre for Fashion Enterprise.
Incubation for two ye had help with the “n bolts” of setting up a including the le requirements
Background: Craig set up his business after graduating from the Royal College of Art. Once leaving College he spent some time as a freelancer trading under his own name, and using spare time to research and understand how to go about setting up his first business.
“ I knew I wanted to be doing my own stuff and be producing my own garments so the natural step was to go out on my own.”
The Centre for Fashion Enterprise put Craig in touch with Olswang Lawyers as part of the programme.
The lawyers just gave Craig forms with places to sign. Really simple and good.
After receiving a lot of recognition and winning various awards, Craig was incubated and mentored by the Centre for Fashion Enterprise. They provided guidance in terms of when and how to register as a company and the other compliance procedures that needed to be addressed.
Why I started my business?
“I need to know we’re not building our house on sand, you know?”
Quicker and simpler
Professionals Legitimate trust protection
“You can’t necessarily know everything, but if you are working with people who do then it’s going to take less of your time and it will be done properly.”
Perceptions from the outside as well Credibility
post really easy and smooth process.
Was provided with two options based on time and cost. Week £20
DAY £60
Set up with Value Added Tax at the same time as registering the company.
Good explanatio to why he h not compl
“There are now wher have to be we need absolutely
Summary: Exceeded the VAT threshold.
ears and nuts and company. egal s.
The Centre for Fashion Enterprise and other business mentors advised that he should register the company by the end of January.
Orders were getting bigger, and felt he needed to make things a lot more solid.
on as had lied.
Went back a few times and the forms had changed from a 2 page document to a 15-20 page document.
Completed the Companies House forms and sent them off however they were returned.
e certain things re I know they done properly, d to know it’s y on the money”
Preparing collections for London Fashion week.
He had confirmation that the business had been set up within the week.
Was being advised by people he trusted. took their advice
October 2009 went online to Companies House to see how to go about registering a company.
incorporation
PAYE. Not required at this stage as industry has a lot of freelancers.
Registration time: 1 Week Cost: £20 Method: Accountant through Incubation Had gone to the Companies House web page a number of times before registering the company. The aim was to complete the process without using outside help, but then when returning back to register, the amount of forms he had to fill out had increased. Craig felt like he needed to be sure everything was correct, and the increase of forms created uncertainty. As part of the incubation support, Craig was put in touch with an accounting firm who then registered the company. The accountants offered an air of reassurance, and the process was extremely smooth.
Insights The Centre of Fashion Enterprise supplied computer software for business management.
Has applied for Corporation Tax and is awaiting the confirmation to come through in the next few days.
Next step is to get some accounting software so he can manage that himself.
• Was on a Government backed programme for new businesses, and was directed through to an accountancy firm due to complexity. • How can we ensure that all information is represented clearly, and kept up to date.
Name: James Age: 42 Business: Bar / Cafe Sector:
Hospitality
PRE
Experience in restaurant/ hospitality industry for 21 years
His first time setting up so approached an accountant through his partner. This was to help with planning on how to set up and was free.
Decided to start his own business on his own.
Built a busine secured
Background: James had worked in the hospitality sector most of his life, around 21 years in a variety of roles so had a deep understanding of the industry. He had never had the courage or felt he had the opportunity to go it alone before.
“Although accountants are good in their fields of expertise, they are very expensive. I’d prefer not to have to use them for basic things like VAT registration or Companies House documents which should be straight forward. And following on from this I think that saving businesses money/unnecessary expenses should be a priority for Business Link and Companies House.”
Ended up with 2 VAT numbers.
£
Had a lot of other things on his mind at the time.
£ wanted to ensure the business was compliant
Had to contact accountant to make sure the forms were complete.
STRESS
Had to contact accountant to make sure it was done.
Payroll systems set up OPENS CAFE
Different log in VAT and PAYE management
VAT
PAYE
post Had to complete shareholders forms for the investors.
Shareholder forms returned.
FELT STUPID BUT KNEW THAT HE WASN’T.
Had to complete shareholders forms for the investors. Posted them back.
Shareh
£
ess plan and funding.
Summary:
HAD HELPED PREVIOUSLY NOMINAL FEE
Needed to incorporate the business so approached the same accountant.
Registration time: 1 Week Cost: “Nominal Fee” Method: Accountant
Went smoothly as the process “wasn’t hard”. ACCOUNTANTS REALLY GOOD AS THEY ARE SPECIALIST FOCUSED INFO.
URGENCY frustration
CONFUSING!
holder forms returned.
There was a problem and it didn’t seem to go through.
2. They provide really focused information, could tell him exactly what he would have to do.
Needed to register for Value Added Tax. Went online to try and register.
incorporation
Received lots of cold calls and unrelated letters.
3. Since the point of incorporation, and before has been extremely busy but has tried to do other compliance procedures himself such as VAT registration and Directors documents, and has had huge problems both times.
Insights: • How can information be made more specific to individuals in order to save them time and confusion?
TAKES A WHILE TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE GOT EVERYTHING RIGHT
Had to complete shareholders forms for the investors.
James went through an accountant for a number of reasons; 1. They had provided him with free advice before registration.
Received a letter back explaining they were not compliant.
WAS FINALLY ADVISED THAT FORMS HE WAS USING WERE NOT UP-TO-DATE.
• How can BusinessLink/ Companies House provide a platform and create a relationship, that starts before registration and continues afterwards? • How can we provide a form of professional support to people incorporating a business?
Insights.
The analysis is a summary of some of the findings and emerging thinking from the journey mapping process.
Insight People want to be compliant and go to Companies House and HMRC as first point of contact, however quickly feel nervous and worried about getting it wrong. As a result they often employ an agent to complete the incorporation process.
How can we make the most of this opportunity, while they are willing?
“I knew the things I needed to find out so I felt it was going to be 90% a waste of time to get 10% of valuable information.” James
1. Overwhelming information
Barriers
People feel overwhelmed by the amount of information when incorporating. Additionally, the tone of communication from HMRC is formal and structured around internal processes and legislative duty. The onus is on the individual to make sense of the information provided in the context of their situation. This can lead to people feeling overwhelmed, and worried that they won’t be compliant.
“There’s a bit of confusion as you’ve different log ins for PAYE and VAT, although you go to the same page.”
“I could be paying an accountant to take care of the books and out earning more money.”
James
John
“I’ve got a lot of friends who run businesses so I’ve drawn on their expertise and knowledge.” Roger
3. Cost Efficiency
2. Disjointed working People get frustrated being asked to provide multiple versions of the same information, and use different log ins on the same sites. This leads to the perception of disjointed working behind the scenes.
People feel it’s more cost effective to employ an expert or agent to complete the incorporation process. Formation agents provide a relatively cheap service and require very little of the individual registering. Balancing the time the incorporation process takes with a competitive cost is essential. Formation agents can be seen to be a quick and cheap way of completing what otherwise would be a lengthy (and therefore, costly) process.
4. Poor support channels The current support systems are not optimal. Complex procedures and processes are rarely handled without support. This insight is supported by the high call rates to HMRC and error rates in incorporation and registration.
Systems Mapping.
Contents • • • •
Introduction Re-introducing the partners Critical Success Factors Current supporting activity
The content in this chapter is based on individual interviews from staff within HMRC, Companies House and Businesslink.gov.uk where we asked them to describe the way the incorporation services works from their point of view, what works well, what doesn’t work and ideas for improving the process from the point of view of the organisation. It is worth noting that some of the key elements planned for the Discovery Phase had to be approached in a different way. The workshops with businesses were replaced by 1-1 interviews.
Introduction During the first part of the project, we spent two weeks in dialogue with colleagues at Companies House, HMRC and Businesslink. gov.uk, uncovering how services related to company incorporation are currently delivered, specifically; • What information is gathered by whom and for what purpose? • What systems are in use, what development and or shared-service potential exists? • What protocols and standards are currently in use – by stakeholders, partners and relevant others? • What are the critical success factors? • Where are the opportunities for service efficiency and innovation, for the customer and government? What are the trade-offs? From the outputs of these interviews we produced a System Map to visualise the processes and architecture that support service delivery.
Re-introducing the partners We spoke to more people from HMRC than any other partner and we think this reflects the complexity and the number of related services delivered by HMRC for the Joint Incorporation Project. Accessing the systems that sit behind the services through the people that use and manage them, gave us an insightful perspective from which to view each of the organisations. The individual identities of each partner took form in our minds and we think it useful to start with these outline personalities, describing the characteristics we believe will ultimately combine to provide a strong basis for the Joint Incorporation project.
HMRC: The middleweight Boxer
HMRC: Observations Despite the seeming lack of resources (people, time and infrastructure) HMRC fights hard to provide customers with comprehensive service information, guidance and online access to services. It responds thoughtfully and quickly to operational problems, such as IT failure or Dirty Data, and the operational challenges of working in the context of legislative change; it can’t knock-out problems in one blow but it attacks the consequences systematically as they become known.
“We’re struggling to keep up with work, delays in service cause people to call in to check status and then we’re over-stretched answering all the phone queries meanwhile the backlog is barely reduced.”
HMRC knows itself and its limitations well. As its name, composition and functions have changed and grown over the years, the layers of supporting processes and systems
“They’re too busy to stop and count the number and types of errors being made so getting stats on this is difficult”
have created procedural complications and un-coordinated service delivery for both the customer and itself. Currently there is much activity and focus on consolidating systems, data-cleansing and realigning processes, meanwhile this has had unfortunate knock-on effects on the quality and speed of service for the customer and in-turn created more work for HMRC, it’s overall position on completion however, will be a firm platform from which to launch incorporation services and others in the future. HMRC works hard to guide businesses through the incorporation process, it knows all the exceptions, the rules and logic and can communicate these fully. It is not so good at presenting these in a way that makes the process appear simple to users. A registration Wizard is currently being developed to simplify registraton-related processes. HMRC has
worked with Software Vendors to encourage effective development of software packages for managing user interactions with HMRC and these have resulted in applications with less follow-ups and rejections. HMRC is continuing to improve and maintain its health and physic for the challenge of a future joint incorporation service. Through the new service HMRC will see many of its current activities automated and can focus its activities towards risk assessment, inspections and collecting income for the public purse.
“People are using the online service, making mistakes and then calling us.”
Companies House: The Trail Blazer
Companies House: Observations Companies House has launched an XML services Gateway that is succeeding in transferring the burden of administration away from Companies House and individual businesses to 3rd party service providers namely Formation Agents (FAs) and software companies. An enviable position, and one which provides for this project, if not an actual roadmap, then a clear pathway to be explored and evaluated. Companies House inherently understands the value of its data. It provides access to it through structured web-services that enable FAs to provide excellent service experiences to their customers at bargain pricesâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; while at the same time generating internal process efficiencies for Companies House. (E.g. Rejections down from 49% to 11%) It also packages up data through the XML gateway for re-use by private sector partners, such as Experien. It still provides unmediated access to its services and full guidance via its web site for individuals choosing to go-it-alone through a paper-based process. It is also working to develop an XML web service for individuals to incorporate through Businesslink.gov.uk.
Companies House is exploring the radical transformation of its approach to datamanagement and is looking to see how they can provide customers with the access and the ability to update and manage their own data in the future. This area of work, the lessons learnt from setting up the XML Gateway and Companies Houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partner engagement strategy should be disseminated and shared for the benefit of this project.
BusinessLink: The Concierge
BusinessLink: Observations
Customer-focused, they know what businesses want they just don’t have the power to give it all to them – else they would! The “skin and link” approach makes sense in the current climate but Businesslink.gov.uk can see in the future they could find themselves caught in the middle with dissatisfied users blaming them for the quality of services constructed by others. Businesslink.gov.uk are continuing to raise its profile as a business portal, it sees this platform as an opportunity to explore new business support services and models, such as the start-up hub, personalised content with Open ID, peer-support networks and to evaluate the relevance of new digital interfaces to people thinking of or running a business now and in the future. Through a Businesslink/ DirectGov/NHS Choices developer hack-day a number of Company creation and Tax return related games were sketched including a game to get people to pay tax at the right time.
Businnesslink.gov.uk stands in the shoes of its customers and wants to be able to packageup and offer government services, national and local, as well as business support services provided by other organisations (private and voluntary) in ways that makes sense to business users.
“Businesses don’t care how government deals with their requests, it just wants them dealt with in a way that causes them as little bother as possible.”
Through extensive customer insight work, deep dives into international best practice and daily operations, Businesslink.gov.uk has a key role to play in setting the technical standards and guidance for future government services to business and in engaging the widerbusiness support community to support the ambitions of this project.
Looking at the organisations together in this way, we are beginning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each partner and the role each can play in developing a joint incorporation service.
Critical Success Factors
Critical Success Factors (CSF) for delivering the joint incorporation project. We proposed at the beginning of the project to create an environment in which partners can easily work together to provide an integrated service experience to customer over time and which leaves room for 3rd party service innovation. We said that to do this we would apply the capability of the web to support this vision through; Making use of the collaborative approaches presented by Web 2.0 to efficiently deliver information to, from and between partners. Opening-up the data collected and generated by HMRC, Companies House and partners to foster new business opportunities for partners and the wider business-support community. During this research phase we identified activities that are already working towards the critical success factors we believe necessary to achieve the ambition above. We believe the three partners involved in the project compliment each others strengths and weaknesses and will work well together in the Joint Incorporation Project. Many inroads towards a joined-up process have been made which will provide valuable insights and lesson to the next phase of this project.
For each Critical Success Factor we describe the following; • Overview of Critical Success Factor (CSF) • Current activities towards CSF • Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service • Insights for Phase 1 JIP • Issues and insights to be further explored
XML Web services The XML web services model is beginning to gain the same kind of traction in Government as has already been seen in the private sector by companies like Apple, Google and PayPal. The UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) mandates the adoption of XML and the development of XML schemas as the cornerstone of the government interoperability and integration strategy. Businesslink.gov.uk has been looking at the Belgium Crossroads bank as an excellent XML Web services example in action. A new central database (an electronic business register system) sends and receives data from local back-office systems as and when triggered by the customer. The user enters their Enterprise Number and all relevant information and services, drawn from various government department are represented on the web page for the customer to use.
Current activities supporting the CSF
An example service is the Name Check web service which is widely used by Formation Agents and others, including Businesslink.gov. uk The consolidation of systems within HMRC, the data cleansing and the process reengineering of PAYE and VAT is a key milestone towards being able to deliver a joint incorporation service based on shared standards and services.
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two
! The first service, an XML-based service provided by Companies House to enable people to check the availability of a business name to register a company. The Name Check facility sits on a Companies House server and the service is â&#x20AC;&#x153;called-inâ&#x20AC;? from Companies House onto the web page being browsed as it is requested.
The efficiencies of this approach can be illustrated through contrasting two different services provided through Businesslink.gov.uk Portal.
The efficiency for Companies House is that this is a standard web-service offered to all partners, no bespoke development is required, it is designed once and reused by many. Companies House has designed the web service to provide itself with the exact data in the exact format it requires to process the
Companies House has taken the lead in this area and is successfully utilising web services through its XML Gateway. Various web services are offered to partners in this way to organisations in the public and private sector. !
“service request” in the most efficient way. It provides this service because it saves itself unnecessary work later down the process of incorporation. For the user, they are presented with a specific tool within a relevant wider support context. They don’t need to go looking for the service provided, its there on the page for them to use. It saves time in the research phase and later on during the process of incorporation minimises the chance of their application being rejected because the company name or a name deemed too similar is already in use (the main reason for rejected applications).
“The system throws you back into a paper process, it’s confusing if you’ve started off online.”
In contrast HMRC’s Register for VAT service has been integrated through a “skin and link” approach. The service is available from the HMRC website and although the service is “skinned” so that it looks like it is part of Businesslink.gov.uk there is a delay while the user is switched in reality to the HMRC
website. From the users perspective it is not a smooth process and is easy to quickly fall outside of the Businesslink.gov.uk portal having selected an HMRC navigation link. The bold link “Return to Businesslink.gov.uk” at the top of the page shows this to be a common problem. On completion the user prints, signs and posts the form back. Digital Signatures are not currently accepted. For HMRC this approach reproduces current processes, with all the existing inefficiencies. Plans for a new VAT Registration Wizard may change this.
Insight for Phase 1 JIP HMRC should begin to reconfigure COTAX (the IT Backbone of HMRC) to start receiving data from Companies House on new company formations in an XML format directly through Companies House’ XML gateway. This could provide a quick annual cost saving to HMRC for receiving data from Companies House of between (£16-37k per year) assuming the service is available for an annual £5k administration charge from Companies House. Potentially a time saving for the customer of 2 days could also be achieved, assuming the CT41g form can be issued as soon as HMRC has the new company data from Companies House within its main COTAX
system. It will also provide an opportunity to see if can begin identify any barriers or difficulties in implementing an XML web services approach to joint incorporation using existing systems.
Issues and insights to be explored in To Be Phase Seeing the web services approach in action between Companies House and Businesslink. gov.uk begins to evidence this as a workable approach for all parties involved. We will not take forward the “skin and link” approach in to the next phase as it will not provide, in its current model, the process efficiencies to government or an improved service for customers. Risk Assessment and validation are key activities for both Companies House and HMRC during the incorporation process. Companies House wants to include an auto-check in its XML webservice to auto-reject applications. HMRC and Companies House could collaborate on this to see if this approach could be applied to automating some assessment activities for HMRC as well as Companies House.
Data standards and management Creating and implementing a standard XML Schema is the first step towards the easy sharing of data between departments and organisations using XML web services.
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two An agreed XML Schema will define the data to be collected and shared for the Joint Incorporation Project creating efficiencies for the organisations in terms of only needing to work with and support one-set of data, in a single format that can be re-used by 3rd party developers and service providers. For the customer the use of data standards across organisations will mean a tell-us-once approach is achievable.
Current activities supporting the CSF
Issues and insights to be explored in To Be Phase
Internally HMRC are looking at data standards as part of the consolidation of systems and data-cleansing exercise. Companies House has developed an XML Schema for incorporations.
This project will produce an XML Schema for Joint Incorporation to include the required data-sets of Companies House and HMRC, to ensure all information is collected during first contact. To inform this we should draw on the existing XML Schema created by Companies House and HMRCs data requirements identified during this phase of the project. We are looking too at the local government XML schema for Working With Business and how these requirements might also be included in the future service.
Companies House is reviewing its approach to data management and exploring the opportunity for customers to manage the data themselves.
We will look at the MyDex/DWP work that is looking at citizens taking control of their own data, by choosing what data they are prepared to make available and to who they would provide access to their data.
Single identifier To share data and processes around joint incorporation a single identifier for every business is necessary. There are unique identifiers for businesses in use by all three partners and other government departments. These include; Company Registration Number, Unique Taxpayer Reference, SIC code, VAT number, Local government single business identifier. The challenge will be to find a universal Unique Identifier that will continue to identify a business as it transacts with government over time. For example the Company Registration Number could work well as a common identifier at first but if the company is sold on, much of the associated company information on Directors, UTR, PAYE, VAT would suddenly be orphaned.
Current activities supporting the CSF HMRCs Single Business Index project is a first step towards this. The index will point the referrer to all available information about a single business held in all the various backoffice systems within HMRC.
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two Having a unique identifier for every business would help to pull-in all known information about an individual business from all sources for the benefit of any transaction between government and a businesses. This approach would bring operational efficiencies for both government and business. Research so far suggests businesses would not be happy to provide personal identifiers, such as unique taxpayer reference when transacting with Government on behalf of a business; preferring instead to use a business identifier. The quest to find a universal business identifier may result in the creation of a new reference number, it would need to be mandatory to reference this number in all transactions with government and from the customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s point of view, the identifier would replace existing ones, such as VAT or UTR even if these were still used internally and or alongside.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have filed annual reports of enterprises and now I registered my first enterprise in the e-Commercial Register Company Registration Portal with my national ID card.â&#x20AC;&#x153;
An Estonian Entrepreneur, using his national ID card, made a new World Record in 2009 for the fastest establishing of an enterprise via the Internet using the eCommercial Register of the Company Registration Portal (CReP) of the Estonian Ministry of Justice.
Issues and insights to be explored in the To Be Phase We will explore the issue of a single identifier with business owners and intermediaries as well as contacts within Government. We do not expect to come with an answer as to what the single identifier should be, but we expect to capture user attitudes and make recommendations on emerging work in this area. This is closely linked with the next CSF Authentication.
Authentication A number of government initiatives are looking at this complex area. In essence it is the mechanism through which self-service and an effective relationship with government can be achieved.
Current activities supporting the CSF Businesslink.gov.uk make use of Government Gateway IA for login to the portal. Future plans for the busineslink.gov.uk service are looking at using Open ID for businesses to login to the business portal using, for example, their Google account details. HMRC’s Identity Verification and Authentication Review (Online) – IVAR is investigating options for improving HMRC’s online Identity Authentication processes. 1. To verify the real life identity of an individual (including the Responsible Officers of a business e.g. Director, partner etc) 2. For a business entity, to establish (as far as possible) that the business is bone fide 3. To provide the individual customer or representatives of the business entity with a strong credential (e.g. Chip and PIN card and reader, Smartcards, one
time password to mobile) to use when accessing online services. 4. To authenticate the individual etc via that strong credential. The IVAR review culminated in a series of recommendations on how HMRC might meet these four requirements. HMRC are working with a range of internal and external stakeholders (including other government departments) to understand how the IVAR recommendations fit with the need for cross government solutions. The Cabinet Offices’ Digital Delivery Programme (DDP) is also looking at ‘Identity Assurance’. A key DDP design principle is that government will look to the private sector to provide IA solutions rather than develop them in house. The logic behind this is that the public and private sectors have very similar IA requirements so if Government defines the security standards it requires, private sector organisations are already supplying customers with solutions that are likely to meet those standards. “Proof of Concept (POC)”for HMRC business customers project is coming from the perspective that the majority of new businesses will want to open a business bank
account. The Anti Money Laundering regulations mandate UK banks to carry out ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) processes for all new customers requesting a business account. The KYC process is a strong credential that business account customers will use to access online banking services. The PoC will investigate whether and how HMRC can leverage the bank KYC process and enable the existing banking credential to be used to access HMRC online services. Early thinking suggests that all ‘new business’ content will say that if you are new in business then you must go through KYC and get a bank credential before transacting with HMRC online. If the new business is a Ltd company it must be registered at Companies House before applying for the business bank account because the Company Registration Number is a key data item captured by the bank. CESG is the Information Assurance (IA) arm of GCHQ and the UK Government’s National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, responsible for enabling secure and trusted knowledge sharing to help customers achieve their business aims.
There are five key principles, essential for safe electronic transactions: Confidentiality- keeping information private Integrity - ensuring information has not been tampered with Authentication - confirming the identity of the individual who undertook the transaction Non-repudiation - the individual who undertook the transaction cannot subsequently deny it Availability - ensuring information is available when required
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two Interviews with customers revealed a frustration with having to use different identifiers for transacting with government depending on the department or service they were engaging. For users, having a simple authentication
process that is easy to remember is helpful and Open ID is a convenient way to access some services as it makes use of an existing identify and password. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doubtful this would be desirable for sensitive transactions however. Linked to the single identifier this would provide efficiencies for government in terms of being able to bring together all known information about a customer, reducing avoidable contact and duplication of data collection. For the customer it is more efficient to have one authentication process and to know that which ever contact point they use, the information they have supplied will be shared to provide a more informed service. Through providing an authentication process and a single identifier Government can begin to pull together all know information about a customer into one place. This can then be accessed by the customer and becomes a single place for them to access government business services relevant to their needs. This could include access to opt-in alerts, around related services such as VAT or PAYE. This would be more efficient for the customer, having one point of contact for government would save time and provide more reassurance to the business that they were compliant will all that they should be.
Issues and insights to be explored in To Be Phase Discuss Data standards, data sharing and Information Assurance with Cabinet Office to understand likely direction and also Businesslink.gov.uk work on Open ID, the Government Gateway and outputs from PoC. We will explore this issue with customers. Would business customers use their banking login details to access government services online? How might they benefit from the data association?
Relationship with Agents Companies House has a great deal to share with the project in the way that is has developed effective and efficient relationships with its largest customer base, Formation Agents, and software companies.
Companies House has also formed effective relationships with Software Companies, meeting quarterly to discuss current plans and future trends, out of which more than 50 software packages are available offering formation services. HMRC has also worked with the major software companies supplying Accountancy software.
Companies House web services have enabled Formation Agents to present, to their own customers, a much simpler interface masking the complexity of registering a company. Through invoking a range of individual webservices from Companies House, Agents have been able to bundle-up different service packages to suit the requirements of it’s own customer types.
HMRC has its equivalent Agents too, Tax Agents, these can be specialists providing paid for services like an accountant or a layperson helping a relative for free.
!
“Agents are like weather vanes, good indicators of what’s going on at HMRC. Agents are often the first to notice a problem or mistake and alert HMRC”
Insight for Phase 1:
Steps for the next phase
Share Companies House experience and strategy for engaging with agents. Is there potential to bring together the Software working group and HMRCs software companies and larger agents who might be interested in developing customer interfaces to HMRC?
From our customer journey mapping there seems to be a strong relationship between Tax Agents and Formation Agents but we need to understand this relationship better. We will be asking the following kinds of questions. Could HMRC provide the same kinds of services to Tax Agents as Companies House does to Formation Agents? Could accountants offer the same kinds of service packages to it clients at a minimum price within guaranteed timeframes?
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two Companies House appear to have achieved improved process efficiency through standardising their data formats and enabling 3rd parties to create an interface in to their processes. Through this approach they have encouraged partners to create services that are more efficient for business customers to use; they are quicker, cheaper and more tailored than if the business engaged directly with Companies House.
Could HMRC have an arms-length relationship with â&#x20AC;&#x153;end usersâ&#x20AC;? wanting to set up a company with Agents as the intermediary? What efficiencies could be achieved though enabling others to provide an interface to HMRC services, with HMRC specifying exact data formats and processes to minimise itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own processing of the data. How would this work through a single interface at businesslink.gov.uk?
Guidance and intelligent forms â&#x20AC;&#x153;We need to stop people making basis mistakes.â&#x20AC;?
Many online application processes and even a lacklustre order form will use an Intelligent form to stop users making basic errors such as not providing mandatory information like an e-mail address. Interactive application processes that only shows guidance and ask for information relevant to the individual completing the application, could be governed by known information already collected, by the answers the user provides and by the business logic (most notably from HRMC) that underpins the joint incorporation system.
Current activities supporting the CSF Companies House found using intelligent forms resulted in 11% of forms being rejected due to error compared with the paper application reject rate of 49%. Companies House expects to see reject rates to fall further from 11% to 2%, through helping less efficient Software providers to build-in more autochecking processes. Companies House are also exploring the opportunity for building in some auto-checking functions into existing web services. A great deal of research has gone into the issue of Guidance. An ideal situation for the customer would be to find consistent guidance which they could refer to and would be accepted as complying to best of knowledge based on HMRC Guidance.
Opportunities for organisational efficiency and improved customer service and any potential trade-off between the two There is a clear opportunity to reduce rejection rates at HMRC, which would immediately cut down on the number of subsequent customer contacts. For businesses the process and required information would be evident from the first interaction and on submission could be confident that the job was complete and their application would not be rejected. Clear and definitive Guidance, places contextually, could cut down dramatically on enquiries to HMRC.
Steps for the next phase How can the process for Incorporation be made more intuitive for the customer and less reliant on human assessment? How might some of the risk assessment and validation of businesses processes be automated? What rules and indicators trigger assessments and could these be built into the system?
Legislative changes “It’ll have to be legally mandated to work. Make it mandatory for everyone registering for VAT”
We’ve heard from HMRC, Businesslink.gov.uk and Companies House contacts that to make the system work the core processes defined by the Joint Incorporation Project should be mandatory. This seems to be in response to the myriad of methods and channels available for companies to provide information to Government and the non-allignment of these channels. For example Postal returns, included the wrong address and these were going to the wrong processing team. Forms or declarations sent in by customers sometimes get “orphaned” from the rest of their company information. This results in follow-up calls from customers of Agents who are then expected to reapply or fill out another form. Staff would like to see one clear process offered to the customer for ease of processing.
Legislation also covers what information is provided to whom. So for example both the business and its agent, if they have one, are sent a copy of the Notice of the Return. This is because legally the business is responsible for sending in the Tax Return, even though it is the agent that will undertake the task. Legislation would likely also be needed to implement a single unique identifier for Companies that would require it to be cited in any communication with government.
Current activities supporting the CSF HMRC are reviewing the CT41G form, Q1-12 are required by legislation and there are some changes that could be made to the form, e.g. pre-populated fields where HMRC or Companies House has the information already.
Steps for the next phase There may be legal implications for the efficiencies we identify in the next phase and any recommendations we make would need to be assessed alongside current legislative guidance and if necessary would describe the required legislative changes.
Inspiration.
Inspiration can come from all areas of life. Before we start to think about new concepts or ideas we need to draw broad inspiration from the world around us.
Contents • What if... registering a business was like following a cookery show? • What if understanding what you needed to do to be compliant was like buying a burrito? • What if... registering and getting your business compliant was like growing a plant? • What if... Companies House and HMRC were your family and friends? • What if... Setting up your business was like packing your briefcase? • What can... we learn from Flip Cameras? • What can... we learn from First Direct? • What can... we learn from Amazon? • What can... we learn from Apple? • What can... we learn from Google?
It’s important early in a project to look and think divergently about challenges and opportunities. This way you give yourself the biggest possible spring board for a stage of concepting. It also allows you to provide key stakeholders with inspiration to encourage more creative thinking within the co-design process. These inspirations come from drawing on people, groups, places and nature. Often these inspirations come from day-to-day observations that can help to ground complex projects in reality. Breaking a challenge down and understanding exactly what you are trying to do on a more basic level, can allow you to draw parallels with other things. We also draw on other industries for inspiration. We can often learn so much from successes in other industries, organisations and services and the models they adopt.
What if... Registering a company was like following a cookery show or recipe?
Insight: It is challenging understanding what is needed to set up a company, and the steps needed to get there. Why a cookery show? Cookery shows offer an interesting way to look at following instructions to achieve a complex outcome. They provide information in a language that is conversational, personable, approachable and is easy to digest. Specific steps and ingredients are provided that are unique to that recipe.
Questions: 1. How can we make the process of registering a company more engaging? 2. How can we make the process of following instructions more manageable and straight forward? 3. How can we provide information, tailored to the business, and the person registering it?
What if... Understanding what you needed to do to be compliant was like buying a burrito?
Insight: People have trouble understanding everything they need to do to be compliant at various stages through incorporating and running their company. Why a burrito shop? When ordering at a burrito shop you can see all the elements that go into creating the end product. You can understand what is available and choose what you want, and ignore what you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. In a sense you can customise and package the service to your needs. The process is very visual and takes place in front of you. You can see the steps and understand where you are in that process.
Questions: 1. How can we make new companies aware of the steps that they need to go through to be compliant? 2. How can we supply that information in a way that allows them to pick the bits they need, and disregard irrelevant information? 3. How can we create a simple illustration of the process to reassure people itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going well?
What if... Registering and getting your business compliant was more like growing a plant?
Insight: People donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always know when to register, and also when they need to follow other processes to remain complaint. Why like growing a plant? Starting and developing a business is a process of growth. In order to grow successfully and manage a business, people need to take care of various tasks and manage that growth. As the business develops people may be required to change varying levels of compliance, and make changes to structure or organisation. As a plant grows it very clearly shows when it needs water, a bigger pot or more sunlight.
Questions: 1. How can we build systems that not only support the person through the process of incorporation but keep them reassured and informed through growth? 2. How can we provide businesses services and environments to encourage a positive start, incorporation and growth period? 3. How can we provide visual clues as to what is needed to run a compliant company?
What if... Companies House and HMRC were your family and friends?
Insight: It can be a difficult time when setting up in business. Personal support is provided by family, but where can you find professional support? Why family and friends? Family and friends provide much needed emotional support during the process of setting up a business; they provide reassurance. How can we provide a professional reassurance, and not just notify people when things have gone wrong? Individuals setting up a business are extremely busy, often they are still working long hours or finishing their education. Therefore the time dedicated to establishing a company is often â&#x20AC;&#x153;after hoursâ&#x20AC;?.
Questions: 1. How can we create a supportive and reassuring system for business incorporation? 2. How can we make use of the amount of people going through the process of registration and generate group information? 3. How can we provide specific and direct information?
What if... Setting up your business v like packing your briefcase?
Insight: Understanding all the components required to be compliant, and the things that you may need to do later is important. Why packing a briefcase? When planning a journey having everything you need to take on display, and placing them in a bag, gives confidence that you are prepared for that journey. It helps you to clearly understand that you have everything you need and gives you a chance to spot if something is missing, before it gets too late and stressful.
Questions: 1. How can we visualise the registration and subsequent compliance processes in a tangible and immediate way? 2. How can we create interfaces that are intuitive and immediate? 3. How can the system allow people to bundle together and customise exactly what they need for their business registration?
What can... We learn from Pure Digital Technologies business model?
Pure Digital Technologies/ Flip Delivering simplicity Once PDT had understood the desire for a simple recording device, they went about redesigning the video camera for their customers. They removed all aspects of the camera that were deemed to be inessential or cumbersome and delivered a product that performed the basic tasks in a fluent and simple way. They also understood that owning the video camera was not just about filming, but the service and software to support the cameras usage was also a key focus. It was about the entire experience of using the film content, sharing it with friends and amending it. Therefore they designed the product and service for ease of use, where there were no additional wires for connection and no software CDs. This meant there was no fuss, it was simply a case of plugging the camera in, and it working.
Understanding the market and uncovering a need When all other video camera manufacturers were focused on delivering increasingly complex and high-tech cameras, PDT turned to customers to see what they actually wanted. They opened up a channel with their consumers and got feedback on the things that they liked. They listened to their customers and went about creating a product for them. They also noticed a trend in video capture and uploading for sharing. They understood that delivering a less high spec product at a lower cost would appeal to a wide market.
Analysis Having opened up a channel for feedback and conversation around the company registration process it is important to listen to what the customers are saying. Focusing on the basics within the process of company incorporation, and delivering them in a fluent, consistent and intuitive way is important to both the individuals we have spoken with, as well as other key stakeholders such as accountants.
What can... We learn from First Directs business model?
First Direct: Understanding its customers FD had a clear understanding of the people they wanted to target through their services, and then built their service provision around these people.
Examples of how this was implemented;
can be broken down into 3 areas;
1. The use of technology FD used new technologies (internet) within their service as they understood that the customers they were targeting were comfortable with the web.
1. Language Conversational, direct and clear to their market.
2. The hours of business FD moved to offer a 24 hour service as the lifestyles of their consumer group meant that they wanted a service with that level of flexibility. They wanted their answers to be provided on demand.
Information Provision FD built their model around their consumer base, understanding the ways they looked for and gathered information. This was spread across a dual channel platform split between a phone service and online provision. They ensured that both platforms operated at the same level by making the online information and functionality comparable to the service received over the phone.
Communications Culture First Direct built an internal and external culture of open communications. This communication
2. Explicit Information Left no room for errors or misinformation, designed the instructions to remove room for error. 3. Method of communication Communicated with their customers through channels they were already using and felt comfortable with.
Feedback First Direct operate in a way that allows customers to easily feedback on the service they are provided. This feedback is open and visible on the web site. Good and bad feedback can be left on the site, giving customers a voice, but also showing First Direct to be transparent and open to criticism and praise, which helps to build trust in the brand.
Tangibility FD went to great lengths to simplify and clearly communicate tasks that seem initially complex or fraught with potential risks.
Firstly they designed graphical representations of an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial information. Visualising the information in this way meant the customers felt more comfortable as they understood what to do clearly and connected to the otherwise abstract information. They took this a step further by using pots of money in relation to an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s balance. Making things understandable and tangible for users is key to building confidence in systems and processes. We can look to draw metaphors and visualise the actions, and the result of those actions during incorporation.
Internal/ External Structure What is interesting about the FD Business model is that FD position themselves as a bank/ financial institution. However internally FD structure themselves in the same way as a communications agency. Internally the board and the staff describe themselves and work as a communications company. This grossly influences how the business is run and how decisions are made. It also means that the scope where the business can operate is different to that of other banks. They arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t directly competing with other banks as they offer a significantly different service and value proposition.
What can... We learn from Amazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business model?
Amazon:
recommendations can be made about things that you may need to do in the future.
Collective Intelligence / Hypersegmentation:
It also provides tailored information to the individual. It’s a social way of filtering information and therefore more often than not produces results that are relevant to you. For example a site could highlight that “Companies similar to yours have also needed...”
Amazon doesn’t just understand their market but they employ hypersegmentation. This means that they can refer customers to other products they might like. Amazon uses the technology in order to drive revenues and as a result is hugely effective, far more so than traditional web advertising. It is a way of provoking responses from customers that has proven to be both extremely effective, both in terms of driving revenue for Amazon but also in terms of improving a consumers experience and adding value.
What can we learn from this? When going through the business registration process people have expressed that they often feel uncertain they have completed everything they needed to do. They have also said that the amount of information they need to go through in order to find what is relevant to them can be off putting. Hypersegmentation is useful as it provokes an action from the customer without appearing overly pushy or overbearing. Therefore
Company Structure: From the birth of the business Amazon was always regarded internally as a technology company. The internal ethos of the company wasn’t that of an online bookstore, but of a technology company. This meant the way the company operates is focused on delivering a well organised operation and ensuring a smooth customer experience facilitated by technical excellence.
What can we learn from this? Understanding your key values internally is essential. What is it that you exactly that you want to deliver to your customer? Understanding precisely what you want to achieve allows you to structure the way you work and communicate your message accordingly.
What can... We learn from Apples business model?
Apple: Controlling the Channels: Apple understood that the way to ensure they controlled the music market was by controlling the channel. By perfectly delivering the retail channel for purchasing music, they would be able to control the market. They focused on making the process of buying music seamless, simple, quick and easy for people to do. This created an enormous amount of value. They created a whole experience, and communicated their message and ethos consistently throughout their process.
What can we learn from this?
We must understand the simple challenges customer face, and how we can deliver them exceptional value. We must design services that are a pleasure to use.
App Store: When developing the iPhone, Apple concentrated on developing a platform for innovation. Firstly, they built a beautiful handheld device which delivered the basic functionality of a mobile telephone exceptionally well. Secondly they released
a Software Development Kit that made it straightforward for programmers to develop applications for the device and release them through iTunes. As of September 2010, there are over 250,000 applications available to download, with over 6.5 billion downloads. Apple allow users to directly pay for and download the applications to their phone. On each transaction Apple take 30%, and 70% goes directly to the developer. Apple reserve the right to reject applications submitted by developers to the store. By creating a platform for others to develop innovative content, Apple are able to: • Focus on the user-experience of the device • Harness the wisdom of the crowd • Develop a profitable business model
What can we learn from this? It’s valuable to consider the whole customer experience. Take time to explore how they will discover the service, how they will access it, how it fits into their life. By expanding the design process from products and web sites into full service experiences you can find ways to delight customers with seamless processes.
Additionally, Apple understood that they couldn’t anticipate all the ways the iPhone would be used and instead focussed on creating a very simple kit through which other third party suppliers could create apps.
Challenge How can Companies House and HMRC create a platform that allows others to develop tools and applications to help people incorporate and manage their businesses?
Co- Design Workshop.
Thinkpublic designed and facilitated a workshop in Leeds with new company owners. The purpose of the workshop was to; 1. Present and verify the information captured during the journey mapping stage. 2. Discuss anything we may have missed 3. Co- Create â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bullish statementsâ&#x20AC;? for what customers want from HMRC, Companies House and Businesslink. 4. To rank the issues and opportunities in terms of importance to customers. 5. To Co- Design potential solutions to these opportunities.
Co- Design Workshop, Leeds On 29th September 2010 thinkpublic ran a codesign workshop with new business owners in Leeds. We recruited 14 participants who had registered a company within the last year. They were from a range of sectors and backgrounds and had varying levels of experience, some having registered several businesses and for others it was their first venture.
The first exercise asked participants to imagine the ideal incorporation process and what the relationship between government and businesses would look and feel like. We asked the business owners to describe key values they think HMRC/ Companies House and Businesslink should embody. We then created a challenging statement based around these values and shared them with the group.
What we heard Pre Incorporation It’s all about me. I’m starting a new business, it’s an exciting time for me. Take time to let me tell you about my business. Then you can direct support where I need it most. Help me make a list of things I must do. Sign-post me to services, for example, funding sources.
During Incorporation Keep it simple. Only ask me questions relevant to my business. Make it clear where I am in the process, how much have I completed already, what’s left to do? I still need advice - can you help me find local networking opportunities, where can I go for help with staffing and recruitment issues?
Post Incorporation Still make a fuss of me. Announce when my business set-up is complete. Reassure me the relationship doesn’t end here, you know my business and you will keep me informed on everything I should know. Alert me to any tax issues affecting my business sector. Maintain an incorporation “health check” for my business.
Co- Design The customers were split into three groups. Each group then selected two opportunities to work on and generate ideas for how these opportunities could be tackled. These ideas were then presented back to the group for feedback. Some of these ideas included a company health check and ways that disruptions from cold callers could be addressed.
Internal Values Excercise.
Understanding what the ethos and culture internally within HMRC, Businesslink and Companies House are, and how those messages are communicated externally was important in understanding what was trying to be achieved through the Joint Incorporation Project. We ran an exercise in a steering group where we tried to challenge the thinking around the mission This lead to some great thinking and interesting insights which are documented in this section.
Identifying Brand Strategy:
Mission
Offer
Relevance
Values
Serial Entrepreneurs
Start ups
Sole Traders
Accountants
Enabling UK Enterprise
Start right, keep it right (getting the relationship off to a flying start)
Hassle free growth. Making growing your business as easy as falling off a log.
Reducing the time it takes accountants to incorporate for others
Quick and simple digital services for dealing with all of Government.
Helping you succeed and grow from the beginning.
Business logical tool Tailored support for your needs. Access to relevant suppliers Regulation alters/ Updates
A simple efficient transaction delivered through a digital service
Only need to tell it once Its comprehensive and authoritative. Your in control, Its intuitive and repeatable Its quick and frees you up to concentrate on your business
Why pay someone to start your relationship with Government? Take the first step?
24/7 help Easy access/ One stop Save time, don’t waste it On the go business
Efficient Save money/ time Concentrate on other offers
• Fair • Professional • Encouraging
• Surprisingly easy • Exciting and Helpful • Inspired
• Understanding Uncle
• Simplicity • Efficiency • No fuss
Mission
Offer
Relevance
Values
Brand Strategy/ Values The exercise aimed to get HMRC, Companies House and Business link stakeholders to think about what they wanted the organisations to be, and what they wanted to communicate to their customers. The results for the differing market segments are above.
Your first step in building relationship with Government
Ideas Generation.
thinkpublic took the insights from throughout the project, along with the internal values information and the Co- Design work conducted with users and generated a range of solutions. We were focused on the usability of the service, how approachable it was, how customers could be directed towards PAYE and VAT where necessary, how information could be displayed and filtered, and the ongoing relationship between Government and business.
Ideal Customer Journey/ Blueprint Alongside sketching out customer experience ideas and features we developed sketches for the ideal customer journey. These were used as a basis for blueprinting where we matched the customer experience with backstage systems that would need to be in place.
Project Outcomes.
The following pages show examples of the project outcomes. These Include; • • • •
Web Wireframes Data Schema Web Wireframes for the Customer Forms Service Blueprint (Standard)
The final pieces in full can be found on the attached CD as PDF documents.
Information collected here informs incorporation process
Before we begin
Soletrader
Start up
Number of company Directors Serial Entrepeneur
1-10
Director share holders
YES
External Share Holders
YES
NO
First Name
Contact
Last Name Email
NO
Phone
Venture Capital Business Nature
Description
Free text generates SIC (for research and VAT risk assessment and specialist report
Charity
Identifies high growth business
YES
Charity Number
NO
Location
Town or Region
Not- for- profit
Active Trading
Yes
Trading start date VAT threshold in next 3 months Employees
No Trading start date Dormant Company
Triggers PAYE questions in incorporation phase
YES
Acquired Business
YES NO YES
Acquired Business name
NO
Acquired business address
NO
Acquired business director name
Parent Company
YES NO
Parent Company Reg. Number
Number of employees
Estimated annual turnover
Customer Base
Identifies high growth business and tailors JIP
Identifies high growth business
Links to research data from ONS, BIS, Businesslink
Business to Business
Business to Government
International
European
Registration complete: It looks like your trading as...
Business to consumer
Can change company constitution- signposted business Link and support others found useful
Most common model for SMEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Signpost to businesslink for help and user rated professional advice
Publicly LTD company
Company LTD by shares
Social Enterprise
Not for profit
Company LTD by guarantee
Registered Charity
Community Interest Company
Company Name
Location UK Address Standard
Proposed Company Name
Registered Office Address
Launch Name check web service
Contact Telephone Contact Email
Links to Local Authority Information Pre populated with contact details from Reg.
Abbreviated Company Name UK Address Standard
Trading Address
Constitution
Contact Telephone Contact Email
Publicly limited company
Company Type
Company LTD. by shares Company LTD. by guarantee
England and Wales
Country of Incorporation
Scotland Wales Northern Ireland
Share Purchase
Shares or
Allotment Type
Share Option
Generated by company type
Guarantee Amount
Share Award
Value
Value
Pre Populated with registered office details
People Number of directors generated by Reg.
Directors
If additional director and trading active PAYE set up
Directors 2+
Director Appointment Type First Name
Pre populated with contact details from Reg.
First Name
Last Name
Last Name
Address
Address
Contact Telephone
Contact Telephone
Contact Email
Contact Email
National Insurance NO.
National Insurance NO.
HMRC Office
HMRC Office
Tax Reference
Tax Reference
Shares
YES
Shares
Value
Salary
Dividend
YES
Salary
NO
Stored for annual return
YES
Value
YES
Value
NO
Value
NO
YES
Pre populated with contact details from Reg.
NO
NO Triggers PAYE if active trading also
Triggers Self assessment
Director Appointment Type
Stored for annual return
Value
Dividend
YES NO
Value
Secretary
Secretary Appointment Type
Guarantor
First Name Last Name
First Name Last Name
If Guarantor Model
Address
Address
Contact Telephone
Contact Telephone
Contact Email
Contact Email
National Insurance NO.
National Insurance NO.
HMRC Office
HMRC Office
Tax Reference
Tax Reference If limited by shares model
Shareholders
Triggers PAYE if active and paid
Shareholder type
Employee
First Name
First Name
Last Name
Last Name
Address
Address
Contact Telephone
Contact Telephone
Contact Email
Contact Email
National Insurance NO.
National Insurance NO.
HMRC Office
HMRC Office
Tax Reference
Tax Reference
Authorise Agent
Subscriber Member
Optional
Agent
Tax Agent Accountant Solicitor
First Name Last Name Address Contact Telephone Contact Email
Financials
Voluntary VAT registration
First Accounting Period
VAT Start Date Generated by first day of trading
Only selling outside UK
Accounting Period end date
Generated by first day of trading
Company registration no. Register for VAT Auto if predicted VAT threshold
Generated by Incorporation process
Make taxable supplies
Compulsory VAT registration
Main Business Activities Other Business Activities
Date turnover reached VAT threshold 12 Months taxable supplies
Business Name One or more businesses can be added
12 months taxable exempt supplies
Business VAT Number Still Trading
YES NO
Partners or Directors previous business involvement 2 years
Goods sold to EU EU goods purchased
Previous Business Name Business VAT Number Still Trading
NO YES NO
OPTIONAL VAT1 unless business related to land or property (business Nature) VAT 1614
Previous Business involvement 2 years
If business has partners or directors
YES
YES NO
Set up for PAYE
Employee name Employee NI number
Details returned to business and accessible via start- up hub Company Reg. Number
Employee Tax Code
Certificate of Incorporation
Employee D.O.B Gender Start Date
Unique Tax payer reference Linked to Calendar App
Key Dates Details of self assessment tools
Job title Expands for more employees
Annual Salary
Within Startup Hub
Details of VAT tools Details of PAYE tools Local Authority Contact details
Set up for NI
Apply relevant Licence
Data Req. here
Funding/ Contract Opportunities From BIS, KAI, ONS, LEPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, CBI, FSB ECT
Research and opportunities
Joint Incorporation Project/ Webpage Keeping the home page friendly, clear and engaging is essential in keeping people on the site. This will reduce the number amount of people visiting the site and then going elsewhere to register. Creating a balance between a professional tone, but also showing the process and information as straight forward and simple. Incorporating aspects of fun and excitement was also discussed with a number of the customers we have spoken to, and therefore aspects of playfulness were incorporated with iconography and imagery. Also by reducing the amount of information on immediate display creates a tone of simplicity and ease of use.
Summary • A personal, fun feel/ tone/ language • Clean, clear displays of information • Understandable graphical representations of information and statistics • Clear that business registration can be carried out through the site. • Media such as video to describe the process of incorporation and give examples of others who have done similar things.
14
Applications developed this year to help managing business and streamlining tasks.
Going LTD can protect your personal assets by seperating them from your personal ones.
Benefits to Government of new service • Faster and easier incorporation process, empowering individuals to incorporate themselves. • Improved international ranking for the UK on the ease of incorporating a business indicator. • Aims to tackle barriers and bottlenecks in the system that inhibit economic growth. • Encourages more people to incorporate and create sustainable companies. • Encourages innovative service development by 3rd party providers, e.g. banks, accountants, software developers, analysts and academics. • Maximized Data stored and shared by government to increase efficiency and deliver better services for customers.
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Joint Incorporation Project
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Before we being... Features
Before we begin... By answering the following questions, we can ensure that your incorporation process will be tailored for you, making it easier and quicker.
• •
Targeted business support information Personalised incorporation process
The information you provide here is primarily for the purpose of incorporating your company. At the end of the process, you'll see what information will be made public and why. You'll also have an opportunity to access support and opportunities relevant to your company through sharing your information.
Benefits
Which statement best describes you? *
Government
I am a sole trader wanting to go limited I am a new start-up company I am a serial entrepreneur, managing several businesses I am an agent / accountant setting up on behalf of someone else
Contact details: * First Name Last Name Email Telephone What is the nature of your business? * (Describe your business, or select from those suggested) In what town or region will your business be based?
Is your company active and trading now? * Yes
No
How many directors are setting up the company? *
Will you or the directors / you be shareholders in the company? * Yes
No
Do you want to offer shares to external financiers or anyone else? * Yes
No
Will you operate as a charity? * Yes
No
Will you operate as a not for profit? * Yes
No
Are you acquiring this business? * Yes
No
Do you have a parent company? * Yes
HMRC & Companies House • Provides the ability to fast-track users through the incorporation process. • Reduces unnecessary processes. • Increases knowledge of business activity for risk assessment. • Less churn and more confident and sustainable business created.
No
Will you be seeking venture capital funding? Yes
• Identifies innovative high-growth companies for specialist support e.g. local Technology and Innovation Centres or support from Local Enterprise Partnerships.
No
How many people do you expect to employ?
What do you expect your annual turnover to be?
How would you best describe your customer base? (Tick all those that apply) Business-to-business
European
Business-to-customer
International
Customer • Saves time by ensuring only relevant questions are asked. • Can describe their business in natural language. • Demonstrates government is listening and wants to help. • Strong start through targeted support
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Name
Search
Joint Incorporation Project name
Features
step 1 of 6
choosing a name for the company
Name
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Enter your desired company name
We will check whether the name is available and conforms to statutory requirements
MUSCLE HUT LTD Also check for:
Search Now Domain names Trademark
Great, your company name is available.
Abbreviated name
Muscle Hut
Re-use existing web service - add option to Reserve company name for 10 days
Benefits
Naming your company You cannot choose a name that is the same as an existing company and you should avoid a name that people may find offensive or that is 'too much like' an existing company name unless it is part of the same group You will need to obtain special approval for a name that: • Suggests a connection to a government department, a devolved administration, a local authority or specified public body. • Includes any sensitive words and expressions that require approval from Companies House. For example, you are not allowed to choose a name which includes words that are potentially misleading, such as 'international' if you are a UK-only business. Read more on how to choose the right name for your business
HMRC & Companies House • Reuses and builds on existing capabilities Customer
Reserve name This name will be reserved for 10 days.
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• Reduces the likelihood of rejection
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Joint Incorporation Project constitution
Features
step 2 of 6
describing how the company is structured
Constitution
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Based on your answers to the previous sections, it looks like you want to register as a private company limited by shares.
Recommend sources of information from businesses like you...
Over 90% of small businesses register as a private company limited by shares. If you are unsure of which model would be best for your company you can learn more about the different constitutional models at BusinessLink or seek professional advice.
I want to incorporate as a
next
Benefits
1. NewBusiness.co.uk 157
Private company limited by shares
23
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Extremely helpful and informative
Private company limited by shares
HMRC & Companies House
2. Smarta.com 110
Most private limited companies are owned by their shareholders and are limited by shares. This means that the liability of each member is limited to the amount unpaid on shares held by them.
34
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• Reduces incoming queries for reassurance and assistance.
Rating:
A great source of information
Source BusinessLink
3. SmallBusiness.co.uk 89
29
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Customer
Rating:
A vibrant community
Recommend a source ! view more
Video from BusinessLink - The Start Up Diaries
For companies limited by share a 'statement of capital and shareholdings' is required
Recommend sources of information from businesses like you...
Statement of capital and shareholdings Please complete the table below to show any class of shares held in pound sterling. Class of shares
Amount paid up on each share
Amount unpaid (if any) unpaid on each share
Number of shares
Aggregate nominal value
£ £ £
1. Statement of Capital (companywizard.co.uk) 157
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Totals:
£
! view more
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• The different models and benefits are clearly explained, and the system suggests the most appropriate form. For further information the customer is signposted to external support rated by other users.
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Location
Search
Joint Incorporation Project location
Features
step 3 of 6
your address and where you'll operate
Location
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Will enable the gathering of local support and information accessible from Company Dashboard.
The information provided here will be made available to the public
What is your registered office address?
The registered office must be a real address, but it doesn't have to be the place where you do business. For example, some companies use their accountants for company secretarial services, and the accountants' address as their registered office. PO Box numbers alone are not acceptable.
Address
City County
Find out more.
Post Code
This means your company with be registered in
HMRC & Companies House • Company contact details are consistent, reducing the error rate and cost of returned post, misdirected mail and duplicated records.
England
Is your trading address different from your registered office address? Yes
Benefits
No
Telephone Number
Customer
Email Website
• Tailored information arriving in the right postbox or inbox back
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People
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Joint Incorporation Project people
Features
step 4 of 6
who is involved in your company
People
Save & exit
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Benefits
Information relating to roles and addresess of officers will be made available to the public.
Directors I plan to start the company with
directors.
2
Directors have many business responsibilities for ensuring the success of their company, in areas such as health and safety, employment law and tax.
First Directors Details Name E-mail Address
Find out more
Roger Stark roger@gmail.com
NI Number Tax Office Tax Reference
/
Date of Birth
• Presents only those form fields relevant to the user.
/
Director's residential address Address
This address will not be made public.
City
HMRC & Companies House • Reduces the triggering of unnecessary HMRC processes. • Increases compliance by connecting people with companies. • Reduces fraud since people are connected with past and current companies. Customer
County Post Code Director's work address Address
Stowegate House
This address has been pre-populated with your company's registered address, if it's different feel free to change it here.
37 Lombard St City County Post Code
Lichfield Staffordshire WS13 6DP
Will receive:
Shares
Class of share
Number of shares
Nominal Value of each share
Ammount unpaid
Ammount paid
Ordinary Salary
Salary
£ Dividend
Second Directors Details Name E-mail Address NI Number Tax Office Tax Reference
Adding other directors will send them an email to verify their connection with the company.
• Customer only presented with processes relevant to their business.
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Financials
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Joint Incorporation Project financials
Features
step 5 of 6
•
your company's accounting period and benefits
Financials
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Accounting period Your company accounting day will be set-up from your first day of incorporation. What date would you like as your accounting year end?
/
31
03
/
2011
What is your estimated annual turnover? £97,000
Every limited company or limited liability partnership (LLP) must prepare annual accounts that report on its performance and activities during the year. The accounts must include a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and certain other information. Find out more
Generates the accounting period and will expand to prompt for VAT or PAYE as appropriate.
Benefits HMRC & Companies House • •
Your company is due to become active and trading on 02/10/2011 edit
Increases compliance and timely payments. Begins to automate the risk assessment process by inspecting business type and estimated turnover.
Customer
VAT Would you like to voluntarily register for VAT?
Yes
31
VAT Start date Estimated annual expenditure on taxable supplies
£
Estimated annual expenditure on non-taxable supplies
£
Estimated annual expenditure on taxable supplies from the EU
£
Estimated annual income from EU sales
£
No
/
03
/
• 2011
What is a taxable supply? Find out more
Recommend sources of information from businesses like you... 1. Allowable Expenses and Deductions (thetaxiguide.co.uk) 123
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Increases reassurance that they are complying.
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Joint Incorporation Project Check
Features
step 6 of 6
•
check incorporation details and submit
Check
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• •
Print friendly version
Benefits
Name You are incorporating as Muscle Hut
HMRC & Companies House
Constitution You will incorporate as a private company limited by shares People Awaiting director confirmation from Dan Straunn (read more)
•
Financials You have voluntarily registered for VAT
•
Location You have provided a registered office address.
•
Notify me by email if anything changes
Incorporate now
Visual representation of where the individual is in the process of incorporation. Can see at a glance what is still to do to complete process. Automates outstanding tasks and alerts.
Customers’ feedback provides help for future incorporations, reducing unnecessary contact. Customer will de-dupe records and correct previous assumptions, ensuring government has clean data. Greater accuracy in collecting the right taxes.
Customer
Once you've completed all the steps above you'll be able to incorporate.
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• • •
Saves time by automating contact and chasing. Reduces the likelihood of rejection. Increased customer confidence in dealing with government.
Internal Customer Dashboard
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My Business
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People
Financials
Muscle Hut
People People
Muscle Hut
Company registration number : 12345 VAT Registration number: 23456247
Financials
Location
Registered Address
Stowegate House, 37 Lombard St
Staffordshire WS13 6DP
Apps Trading Address
34 Trent Valley Road
Staffordshire WS13 6JB
Directors Name
Email address
NI Number
Roger Stark
roger@gmail.com
QQ 12 34 56 A
Edit
Dan Straunn
dan@gmail.com
QQ 12 34 56 X
Edit
Salaried
Shareholder
Dividend
Add a new director
Dashboard
Secretary
People
Financials
View and edit the people currently associated with your company.
View and edit your income and expenditure and tax status.
You currently have registered: "
2 Directors
Roger Staark, Dan Straaun
"
1 Accountant
Anna Stevens
1 Employee
Staffordshire WS13 6DP
VAT Registration number: 23456247
My Business
"
Registered Address
Stowegate House, 37 Lombard St
Company registration number : 12345
Joint Incorporation Project
Location
James Smith (due to start on 2/10/11)
! Update, add or remove people
details
PAYE
Your first PAYE will be due on January 2011
Corporation Tax
Your first Corporation Tax is due on Oct 2011
VAT
Your first VAT payment will be due Dec 2010
! View your tax estimates
Currently you do not have a secretary associated with your company. Add a new secretary
Other Shareholders Currently you do not have other shareholders associated with your company.
! Make tax payments
! View your previous annual balance sheets
Add a new shareholder
Location ! Update your registered office address ! Update your trading address
Employees
Feeds News tailored for your company. Local event:
Popular Apps
Name James Smith
Utilise the Power of Mobile Marketing
New applications you may find useful running your company
Start Date 1st April 2011
NI Number
Annual Salary
Tax Code
QQ 12 34 56 Y
£18,000
48CLR
Edit
Add a new employee
Copthorne Hotel, The Waterfront
Level Street, Brierley Hill, Dudley
Find a location Updated 16th September 2010 Free
DY5 1UR
17 Nov 2010 Read more
Tax Calculator Updated 9th September 2010 Free
Gym businesses rated number one big earner on international markets
! Visit the App store
Read more ! Manage your feeds
Agents Name
Email Address
Role
Anna Stevens
anna@greataccountants.com
Accountant
Add a new agent
Edit
Apps Trading Address
34 Trent Valley Road
Staffordshire WS13 6JB
Dashboard Applications
People
Financials
View and edit the people currently associated with your company.
View and edit your income and expenditure and tax status.
You currently have registered:
PAYE
"
2 Directors
Roger Staark, Dan Straaun
"
1 Accountant
Anna Stevens
"
1 Employee
James Smith (due to start on 2/10/11)
! Update, add or remove people
details
Corporation Tax
Through the standarisation of data relating to companies, the government can more easily enable Your firsttoPAYE be due on access data inwill a controlled wayJanuary to trusted2011 3rd parties for the development of applications of benefit to both Your first Corporation Tax is due on Oct 2011 individual companies and government.
VAT
Your first VAT payment will be due Dec 2010
Benefits
! View your tax estimates Government ! Make tax payments • Creates opportunities for 3rd to create new and ! View your previous annual balance sheets innovative services to business.
Location
HMRC & Companies House
! Update your registered office address ! Update your trading address
Popular Apps New applications you may find useful running your company
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Encourages development of easy to use interfaces onto complex government systems. Feeds • Encourages private sector companies to create innovative new products and services that help News tailored for your company. companies better manage their business and which ultimately benefit government and the Local event: economy through creating stronger more compliant companies. Utilise the Power of Mobile Marketing
Copthorne Hotel, The Waterfront Customer
Find a location Updated 16th September 2010 Free
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Level Street, Brierley Hill, Dudley
Can access a wealth of applications.
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Tax Calculator Updated 9th September 2010 Free
Gym businesses rated number one big earner on international markets
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Data Ownership and management
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Joint Incorporation Project
This feature aims to put the control and management of company data in the hands of the company. They decide who has access to their data, using an interface familiar to users of Facebook and other social media applications.
Sharing information about your company Muscle Hut These settings control who can see what information you share about your company
Your company benchmarking
Running your company
Public Data
HMRC
Companies House
Lichfield Council
BIS
ONS
Support for your company
LEPs
Tech and Innovation centres
Your agents
Accountant
Your company number
They also decide who to release data to, for example give permission for their data to be shared with their local authority. And they can choose to send anonymised data (by holding back on company name and full address) to Office National Statistics, BIS, Research Agencies etc.
Your registered company name
Benefits
Your date of incorporation Location Company officers
Government
Your company financial dates Other people involved in your company Your trading address
Government has access to definitive data source without the burden of managing and updating it.
Statutory accounts Your annual profits / losses Your monthly financials
HMRC & Companies House
Your company type Your company's markets
Add a person or company
!
Takes burden of managing customer data on business itself. Government has access to definitive data source, removing need to regularly de-dupe and accumulation of “dirty data”. Customer •
Puts the control of own data in their own hands. Can change a detail once and all parties will be notified.
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NATWEST Business Account Application
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Joint Incorporation Project My Business
People
Financials
Muscle Hut
Location
Apps
Registered Address
Company registration number : 12345
Trading Address
Stowegate House, 37 Lombard St
VAT Registration number: 23456247
34 Trent Valley Road
Staffordshire WS13 6DP
Staffordshire WS13 6JB
Apps Business Account 51346541
Account Number
40-20-10
Sort Code Business Account
View transactions From
/
20
10
/
To
2010
/
10
Select a date range
11
/
2010
It helps business plan their finances and manage their businesses, through using live data held by the company bank account to semi-automate the filing of company accounts. Using the tool on a monthly basis the app would calculate the amount of tax the company should be preparing to pay at the end of the tax year giving a monthly amount and prompting the user to save this amount.
Select a date range
Transactions
My Health Check
We envisioned this App being created by Natwest for its business customers.
Date
Description
Ref.
Withdrawal £500
Deposit
Balance
05/11/10
Banking
232
03/11/10
New member account
1224
£7,280
01/11/10
Weights online
9442
£450
£6,780
29/10/10
Weblink
232
£120
£7,230
26/10/10
Cheque 1120
232
£200
£7,350
23/10/10
New members account
232
20/10/10
ATM 01
232
£1,000
£1,000 £50
Each monthly statement can be translated into an XLS spreadsheet which saves the business the bother of rekeying information form Receipts and invoices.
£7,780
£7,550 £6,550
Benefits HMRC & Companies House
Download your data as a CSV file
•
Estimated Tax Tax Go Public
Tax
Monthly Estimate
Corporation Tax
£5,000
PAYE
£1,110
VAT
£4,000
Self assessment
Key Dates
£800
Total
£10,910
Your currently transferring
£11,000
Customer
(calculated from £15,000 a quarter)
•
(calculated from £48,000 a year) (calculated from £9,600 a year)
a month in your savings account
Encourages timely payment and compliance.
Update
Puts the control of own data in their own hands. Can change a detail once and all parties will be notified.
Joint Incorporation Project/ Blueprint
Pre - Incorporation
The final blueprints document the process of incorporation from a customers perspective and also show the backstage technical processes that will support it.
Incorporation Filter
The Customer Business Link Companies House HMRC The Government
Service Blueprinting is a graphical technique that displays the process functions above and below the line of visibility to the customer. Touchpoints and the back-stage processes are documented and aligned to the user experience.
Answers a series of simple questions to tailor their incorporation process as well as current and future support.
Receives a tailored research report consolidating information on local competition, support available and other relevant statistics.
Name
Choose a company name using a name check service
C
Spe com con
Can complete different parts at the see how their incorporation profile i what is outstanding.
Web
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Onstage
We also produced a range of blueprint documents that pull out the benefits of the new process to;
Research Report
Backstage
These are available on the attached CD as PDF documents. Ensures no process is triggered unnecessarily
Draws data from a number of local and national government sources
Uses Companies House Name check web service Reserves Company name for ten days
Com trad con affe fina que pro
Constitution
ecify how the mpany will be nstituted
Incorporation
Post Incorporation
Location
People
Finance
Specifies registered and trading addresses for the company
Nominated people involved (directors employees, members, agents etc)
Defines the accounting period for the company, the estimated quarterly turnover and trading status. Can voluntarily register for VAT
eir leisure and is, along side
mbined with ding status the nstitution model ects both the ancial and people estions in the ocess
Check
Reviews the incorporation information and who will access and own this.
Payment
Makes online payment with card Option to pay in advance
Launch
Receives a congratulatory email and letter information about key dates
Feeds back on process and contributes to knowledge base Incorporated Company
• • • • • •
Informs the certificate of incorporation Can link to Local Authority and send record via Business Link
Identifies whether PAYE, NIC’s and self assessment processes should be triggered and when. Sets up a trigger alert.
Triggers Corporation Tax return date Calculates whether VAT process is triggered depending on trading status over turnover
Verifies all data is complete and redirects user if any is incorrect or outstanding Triggers system alerts and outbound emails
Sends receipt of payment Sets up advance payment plan
Sends email with information about the newly incorporated company along with links to recommended tools and support available on the hub
Joint Incorporation Project/ Benefits HMRC
Onstage
Pre - Incorporation
Incorporation Filter
Research Report
Answers a series of simple questions to tailor their incorporation process as well as current and future support.
Receives a tailored research report consolidating information on local competition, support available and other relevant statistics.
Name
Choose a company name using a name check service
Constitu
Specify how th company will b constituted
Benefits HMRC
Can complete different parts at their leisure an see how their incorporation profile is, along sid what is outstanding.
Provides the ability to fast track users through the incorporation process. Reduce unnecessary processes. Increase knowledge of business activity for risk assessment.
Less churn and more confident and sustainable businesses.
ution
he be
Incorporation
Post Incorporation
Location
People
Finance
Specifies registered and trading addresses for the company
Nominated people involved (directors employees, members, agents etc)
Defines the accounting period for the company, the estimated quarterly turnover and trading status. Can voluntarily register for VAT
nd de
Check
Reviews the incorporation information and who will access and own this.
Payment
Makes online payment with card Option to pay in advance
Launch
Receives a congratulatory email and letter information about key dates
Feeds back on process and contributes to knowledge base Incorporated Company
Company contact details are consistent, reducing the error rate and cost of returned post, misdirected mail and duplicated records.
Reduces the triggering of unnecessary HMRC processes. Increases compliance by connecting people with companies.
Increases compliance and timely payments. Begins to automate the risk assessment process by inspecting business type and estimated turnover
Customers feedback provides help for future incorporations, reducing unnecessary contact. Customers will dedupe records and correct previous assumptions ensuring the government has clean data. Greater accuracy in collecting the right taxes.
Increases compliance and timely payments.
Builds a relationship with the company sets them off on the right foot.
Joint Incorporation Project/ Benefits Companies House
Onstage
Pre - Incorporation
Incorporation Filter
Research Report
Answers a series of simple questions to tailor their incorporation process as well as current and future support.
Receives a tailored research report consolidating information on local competition, support available and other relevant statistics.
Name
Choose a company name using a name check service
Constitu
Specify how th company will b constituted
Benefits CH
Can complete different parts at their leisure an see how their incorporation profile is, along sid what is outstanding.
Provides the ability to fast track users through the incorporation process. Reduce unnecessary processes. Increase knowledge of business activity for risk assessment.
Less churn and more confident and sustainable businesses.
Reduces existing capability
Reduces incoming queries for reassurance and assistance
ution
he be
Incorporation
Post Incorporation
Location
People
Finance
Specifies registered and trading addresses for the company
Nominated people involved (directors employees, members, agents etc)
Defines the accounting period for the company, the estimated quarterly turnover and trading status. Can voluntarily register for VAT
nd de
Check
Reviews the incorporation information and who will access and own this.
Payment
Makes online payment with card Option to pay in advance
Launch
Receives a congratulatory email and letter information about key dates
Feeds back on process and contributes to knowledge base Incorporated Company
Reduces fraud as people connected with past and current companies.
Customers feedback provides help for future incorporations, reducing unnecessary contact. Customers will dedupe records and correct previous assumptions ensuring the government has clean data. Greater accuracy in collecting the right taxes.
Builds a relationship with the company sets them off on the right foot.
Joint Incorporation Project/ Benefits for Government
Onstage
Pre - Incorporation
Incorporation Filter
Research Report
Answers a series of simple questions to tailor their incorporation process as well as current and future support.
Receives a tailored research report consolidating information on local competition, support available and other relevant statistics.
Name
Choose a company name using a name check service
Constitu
Specify how th company will b constituted
Benefits Government
Can complete different parts at their leisure an see how their incorporation profile is, along sid what is outstanding.
Identifies innovative, high growth business potential early and directs them to specialist support.
• • • • • •
Personalised and holistic support creates s Seen to be supportive rather than penalisin Faster and easier incorporation process, em Tackle barriers and bottlenecks that inhibit g Encourages more people to incorporate an Maximising data stored by Government to i
ution
he be
Incorporation
Post Incorporation
Location
People
Finance
Specifies registered and trading addresses for the company
Nominated people involved (directors employees, members, agents etc)
Defines the accounting period for the company, the estimated quarterly turnover and trading status. Can voluntarily register for VAT
nd de
stronger businesses in the UK. ng. mpowering individuals to incorporate themselves. growth. nd create companies. increase efficiency and create better services for customers.
Check
Reviews the incorporation information and who will access and own this. Feeds back on process and contributes to knowledge base Incorporated Company
Payment
Makes online payment with card Option to pay in advance
Launch
Receives a congratulatory email and letter information about key dates
Joint Incorporation Project/ Benefits to Customers
Onstage
Pre - Incorporation
Incorporation Filter
Research Report
Answers a series of simple questions to tailor their incorporation process as well as current and future support.
Receives a tailored research report consolidating information on local competition, support available and other relevant statistics.
Name
Choose a company name using a name check service
Constitu
Specify how the company will be constituted
Benefits Customer
Can complete different parts at their leisure an see how their incorporation profile is, along sid what is outstanding.
Identifies innovative, high growth business potential early and directs them to specialist support.
Reduces likelihood of rejection.
The different mo and benefits are clearly explained and the system suggests the mo appropriate form further informatio the customer is signposted to ex support.
ution
e e
Incorporation
Post Incorporation
Location
People
Finance
Specifies registered and trading addresses for the company
Nominated people involved (directors employees, members, agents etc)
Defines the accounting period for the company, the estimated quarterly turnover and trading status. Can voluntarily register for VAT
nd de
odels e d
ost m. For on
xternal
Check
Reviews the incorporation information and who will access and own this.
Payment
Makes online payment with card Option to pay in advance
Launch
Receives a congratulatory email and letter information about key dates
Feeds back on process and contributes to knowledge base Incorporated Company
Tailored information arriving in the right postbox, or inbox.
Customer only presented with processes relevant for their business.
Increases reassurance that they are complying
Saves time by automating contact and chasing. Reduces the likelihood of rejection. Increased customer confidence in dealing with government
Convenient and reassuring
Made to feel special and government is sharing in the excitement, supporting their business.
www.thinkpublic.com
Joint Incorporation Project/ Report November 2010
This document details the work carried out by thinkpublic on the Joint Incorporation Project. thinkpublic are a social design agency that helps tackle big social challenges. We work with the public sector, third sector and communities. For more information on thinkpublic please contact Deborah.Szebeko@thinkpublic.com